Leather gasket



Jul n, 1923. y 1,461,902 I B. HOLMES I LEATHER GASKET,

Filed April 19, 1922 3 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR.

Patented July 17, 1923. i hdtlfd FFlCE.

BRADFORD B. HOLMES, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOB TO JOHN W. WEEKS SECRE- TARY OF WAR OF THE UNITED $TATES OF AMERICA, TRUSTEE.

LEATHER snsxnr. Application filed April 1e, 1922. Serial no. 2555599; rum) unnrn ran Aer or MARCH 3, 1883, 22 srar. n, 625.

To all whom it may concern: standing flange 12 defininga socket 13 for Be it known that I, BRADFORD B. HOLMES, thelreception of the mold. I t v 1 a 55 a citizen of the United States, and a resi- The mold may consist of a cylindrical dent of New York city, county of New York, body 14.- having an inwardly projecting anand State of New York, haveinvented an nular flange 14' at one end thereof and han- Improvement in Leather Gaskets, of which dies 15 extending diametrically opposite a the following is a specification. positions .on the body, through means of,

The invention described herein may be v which the body may be rotated. used by the Government, or any of its officers The flange end of the body 1 1, which acts 10 or employees in prosecution of work forthe as a rest for the leather to be treated, is

,Government, or by any other person in the threaded .exteriorly, as at 16, for threaded United States, without payment to me of any engagement with a centrally apertured screw royalty thereon. cap 17, which serves to clamp the work in y invention relates to a method and ap place. 1 paratus for makingpacking rings of sub- The opposite end of the body is likewise stantially cross sectional 'U-shape. threaded, as at 18,v for threaded engagement In forming a U-shape packing ring the with screw cap 19 from the head of which leather is usually puckered and this puckerprojects inwardly a centrally disposed boss ing has to be eliminated by baking or other 20 adapted to seat in a recess 21 formed in 20 means, which requires considerable time to an element 22 of a plunger, the other elegether with extra handling of the article. ment of which is a ring 23 which encircles The present invention has been devised the element 22 and is formed with an anwith a view to forming a U-shape gasket nular shoulder 24,- adapted to rest on an without puckering the leather and without annular flange 25 extending from the base 25 handling the leather after it has been placed of the element 22. a A e i 3 r in the forming mold until it is ready for When a gasket is to be formed, the device removal therefrom as a completed gasket. hereinbefore described is assembled by placso I carry out my invention by first pressing the plunger in its end of the body 1 1 and ing the leather blank into a cup,then stretchscrewing on the cap 19 to bring the parts so ing the cup to substantially the form of a to the desired positions. This operation may shallow fiat bottom bowl, and finally cutbe performed by placing the cap in the base ting the gasket from the leather so stretched. and bringing the body 1a with the plunger 35 A practical structure for carrying out my therein to proper position and then rotating process is illustrated in the accompanying the body through means of the handles 15. 35 drawings, wherein: r A piece of leather, brought to the proper Fig. 1 is a view in side elevation of a thickness and softened with neats-foot oil, mold for forming the gaskets. is cut to the proper size and placed on the Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same; flanged end of the body 145 and positioned Fig. 3 is a centralvertical section through concentric therewith. A plunger 27, shown I 40 the device, showing the parts in the position most clearly in Fig. 3, is then forced down assumed at the end of the first operation; through the opening in the head of body 1e Fig. 4 is a similar view showingthe de drawing the leather with it into the form vice ready for the second operation; of a cup, as shown in said figure. The screw Fig. 5 is a similar view at the end of the cap 17 is then screwed on upsetting the pro- 46 second operation. truding rim of the cup and clamping the Fig. 6 is a similar view illustrating the same between the cap and flange 14;. The

final or cutting operation, plunger 27 is then withdrawn and a screw 10o Referring to the drawings, wherein like plug 28, properly preheated, preferably by reference numerals indicate similar parts, 10 immersion in boiling water, is screwed into indicates a base plate having recesses 11 for the threaded aperture of the cap 17. This the reception of bolts or screws, by means plug 28 is formed with a central opening of which the base may be secured to a work through which hot tallow or paraffin 29 is bench, and formed with an annular upintroduced and the aperture closed, convenlimit this invention to the exact structure iently by a screw 30. The body 14 is then rotated through the handles 15 to thread the body into the cap 19, thereby forcing the plunger upwardly against the leather cup into the position shown in Fig. 5, thus subjecting the leather to a stretching action.

The parts are then allowed to cool until the paraffin or tallow becomes set; the body 14 unscrewed from the cap 19; the plug re moved; the body inverted; the plunger element removed; and a tubular knife 31, preferably formed with a corrugated cuttingedge 32, pressed lightly againstthe leather and rotated to cut the same, as shown in Fig. 6. a

The parts are then removed; the tallow or para'fiin scraped out of the "gasket 33 and a perfectly formed gasket without puckers is the result.

While I have described herein a specific device designed to perform the various steps in the" process, it isnot my intention to herein shown as many other means for performing the process will readily occur to those skilledin the art.

I claim:

1'. A method of forming gaskets of sub stantially cross sectional U-shape, including bringing a sheet of leather to the proper thickness softening the leather by the application of oil, cutting the leather to form a-disc' of the desired size, drawing thedisC to a cup, stretching the cup to a substan tially shallow bowl shape and severing the rim and a portion of the bottom from the b0Wl.=. V s

2, The method of forming gaskets of subbottom.

when cool, applying-pressure to the cup with the hot substance therein to stretch the cup to a substantially shallow bowl shape,

allowing the hot material to cool and solidify, then severing the rim and a portion of the .bottomfrom the bowl and re-' moving the solidified material from the gasket so formed.

4; A method of forming a gasket of sub;

stantially cross sectional U shape, including drawing a disc of the material to forma cup, partially filling the cup with a hot substance, which solidifies when cool, sealing the cup, stretching thecup to the desired shape, allowing the material to cool and solidify, severing the cup to form a gasket and then removing from the gasket.

the solidified material 5. A method of forming a gasket of substantially cross-sectional Ll-shape, the sides of the U lying in planes parallel with theplane of the gasket, including drawing a disc to form a shallow bowl then severing the sides of the bowl from the rim and BRADFORD BQHoLMEs 

